With strong government backing and direction, Singapore seeks to develop information technology as a growth industry and use it to promote the nation's global competitiveness. The government has increased its efforts in software research and development through government-funded research and development institutes and is also encouraging local industry to develop software for export and to attract overseas multinational companies to set up software-development centers in Singapore. A description is given of research being conducted by the Information Technology Institute, the Institute of Systems Science, and, briefly, by private industry.<>